Fouling of fishing line by the waterflea Cercopagis pengoi: a mechanism of human-mediated dispersal of zooplankton?

goi was first reported in Lake Ontario in 1998, but subsequently spread to Lakes Michigan and Erie as well as some inland lakes. One possible mech-anism of dispersal to inland lakes occurs via fouling of and subsequent transfer on sport fishing lines. Here we explore fouling of Cercopagis on different commercial brands of fishing lines while trolling on Lake Ontario. Accumulation of ani-mals varied significantly across brands, and was lowest on Flea Flicker brand. Fouling was more intense with line set at 20 than at 10 m, and was directly related to the distance trolled. Different pound-tests of Flea Flicker did not vary signifi-cantly in Cercopagis accumulation rates. The maximum number of Cercopagis and diapausing stages on a fishing line was 1024 individuals and 106 diapausing eggs. Because diapausing eggs may remain viable for weeks or longer, their transfer on fouled fishing line to non-invaded lakes poses a risk of invasion and supports previous studies that suggested sport fishermen as possible vectors of dispersal of invasive waterfleas